New system to troubleshoot radio communication problems for Sudbury police, fire and transit

Sudbury city council has approved spending on a new radio monitoring system for fire, police and transit services.

Currently, there is not a method to troubleshoot errorsin a timely fashion, such as power outages, radio cut offs and other faults thatcould lead to downtimes in the system.

But soon the company Harris Canada Systems will be paid by the city to watch for and resolve problems around the clock for 10 years.

Harris will get $87,483 plus applicable taxes to do the job this year and a two per cent increase every year after that.

The decision generated a lot of questions during Tuesday evening's city council meeting.

"Are we jumping the gun to jump into ten years with this specific company," councillor Ren Lapierre asked.

"I am concerned about the operational costs or the impacts of a system that could generate 11 thousand alarms in a year," Mayor Brian Bigger said.

In the end, councillors decided to keep the 10 year agreement with Harris.

The money will come out of the police services budget.

This is not the first time the city does business with Harris. Police officers, firefighters and transit workers have been using a new digital radio system from the company since 2014.